Pax West 2016: Battlechasers – Nightwar

Walking through the show floor on Friday, I stood in place, my jaw dropped. Before me was Battlechasers: Nightwar, a game I helped Kickstart, as well as my favorite comic series of all time.

I stepped into the booth and saw that they had a few demo stations set up. I was met by Ryan Stefanelli, Game Director, who was working the booth and he set me up and explained parts of the game to me. About halfway through my demo, he came back and asked how I was doing, “Great!” I replied, I then mentioned that I was press and wondered if there was an open slot to book an interview, he said yes.

He then mentioned that Battlechases creator, Joe Mad would be in tomorrow and wondered if I would rather have an interview him. My jaw dropped again. “Joe Mad will be here tomorrow?” and he assured me that yes, he would. Joe Madureira is my favorite artist of all time. I own almost his entire run through of his comic book career and meeting him is a bucket list moment. I totally booked the interview.

Check out the interview I had with series creator and legendary comic artist, Joe Mad! And for all other video interviews from Game Refraction, check out our Youtube channel and subscribe to never miss out!

Battlechasers: Nightwar follows a different story than that of the comics, of which Joe Mad told me himself that he “would be putting out 3 issues next year.” For that, I am incredibly excited.

Battlechasers: Nightwar features a wonderful cast of characters:

Garrison: A legendary Swordsman.

Gully: A tiny powerhouse with magical gloves left to her from her father.

Calibretto: An outlawed war golem with a gentle personality.

Knolan: A powerful wizard with a big book of magic.

Red Monika: The voluptuous bounty hunter who trained Garrison.

Alumon: New to the series, he is a demon hunter and knows Garrison and Red Monika.

While the comics left off on a cliffhanger years ago, the game will not pick up from that, but be more of an elseworlds tale; characters will remain the same, but take place away from the comics narrative.

Battlechasers: Nightwar is an exploration/turn based affair. You move around the map in a Diablo-esque way, and then when you confront a bad guy on the map, you’ll enter combat mode.

Combat is incredibly fun and fairly traditional to those who have played any sort of turn based RPG. You have your active time bar above your character menu, which shows which characters are due to attack next. This bar will change based on the level of attack you have chosen, faster attacks put you back on there sooner, where more elaborate attacks will keep you semi-side lined for a few moves.

Each character has two quicker attacks that don’t take up any time at all, and these will also help build up your Overcharge meter each turn. Overcharge also allows you to earn bonus Mana for that individual battle, since it is hard to come by in naturally. This also makes the ‘want’ to use it that much more enticing as if you don’t use it before the fight ends, you’ll forfeit it.

Along with the Overchage meter, each attack you select will fill up the Battle Burst meter. Each of the six characters in your group has a special attack that is tied directly to the Battle Burst meter. The one catch to this meter is that it is shared with your entire party, so picking and choosing who gets to use it is part of the strategy. You’ll construct your group of six into a 3 person team. Character’s like Calibretto will heal your party, which can be a huge help when taking a brutal beatdown by the game’s massive bosses.

I am beyond excited for Battlechasers: Nightwar and look forward to its release later this year.